Rossi insists Vinales qualifying tow not pre-planned

Rossi secured his second MotoGP pole in three races on his home turf on Saturday, setting his best lap while running in the wheeltracks of future Yamaha teammate Vinales at the end of Q2.

It was a role reversal from the start of the session, when Vinales took advantage of a slipstream from Rossi.

While Rossi’s rivals Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo suggested that this was part of the Italian’s strategy all along, the 37-year-old firmly denied claims of having planned anything with Vinales.

“I was lucky at the end to have the slipstream of Maverick to help me make the pole position,” admitted Rossi.

“When you are on track you always try to follow other riders, and when I try to follow Vinales, he’s not a rider who closes the throttle [to slow down], he always continues to push.

“It was nothing programmed before, it was just the case because we [both] waited late [to leave the pits] to have no traffic.

“I think today anyway Maverick is not very happy I was behind because if he wasn’t behind, he would be on pole position.”

Pitlane exit timing a coincidence

For his part, Vinales said it was simply a coincidence that he and Rossi decided to both leave the pits at the same time, both opting to take to the track relatively late in a bid to avoid traffic.

“If I start just when the lights go green, I have many riders [around me],” said the Suzuki rider. “It’s difficult to concentrate and make one lap at the limit.

“Normally I prefer to do the lap alone, and with Valentino sometimes, like him, I start really late, and finally we exit the box together.

“If I have to say something, it’s I don’t want traffic in front. Normally it works.”